Continuing its leadership in delivering highly efficient, usable industry-targeted and task-specific solutions, ESI Group released ESI PAM-COMPOSITES 2017. This latest version of its process simulation software for manufacture of composites addresses fiber-reinforced structural and semi-structural components as well as multi-material thermoformed acoustic and cosmetic interior parts and trim used in ground vehicles and aircraft.

Comparison between digital grid produced by ESI PAM-COMPOSITES (left) and physical grid (right) of an automotive synthetic floor carpet.

Design and manufacturing engineers in automotive and aeronautic manufacturers are tasked with creating lightweight yet strong and durable composite components that meet all quality requirements at affordable cost. PAM-COMPOSITES 2017 helps these engineers to create a simulated part that matches the exact nature of the composite material, to improve manufacturing process stability and repeatability, and to reduce manufacturing defects for a wide range of composite material types and manufacturing processes.

Targeting thermoformed acoustic and cosmetic multi-material components used in auto and aircraft interiors

While past improvements to the software focused on continuous-fiber-reinforced composite parts with high structural-performance demands, PAM-COMPOSITES 2017 targets the thermoformed acoustic and cosmetic multi-material components typically used in automobile and aircraft interiors. This new version gives users the ability to accurately determine the noise and vibration response (NVH—noise, vibration and harshness) of the manufactured product by predicting the stiffness and thickness in each region of the formed part. Typical defects induced during manufacturing, such as tearing and skin texture modifications, can also be anticipated and corrected through digital simulation. This cost-effective solution enables process and design engineers to digitally model, evaluate and optimize the manufacturing of composite parts more accurately than before, and minimize costly, time-consuming physical testing and prove-out of production processes.

To meet ever more stringent automotive regulatory mandates, automakers have had to effect an evolution, indeed in many instances a revolution, in the materials that make up car interiors. Recently, Japanese floor carpet manufacturer Kotobukiya Fronte needed to quickly advance from manufacturing rubber carpets to use of new synthetic-materials carpets—a challenge the company rapidly and efficiently met with PAM-COMPOSITES.

According to Takumi Fujino, a member of the Acoustics and Simulation Group within Kotobukiya Fronte’s R&D Department, “ESI PAM-COMPOSITES is equipped with the features and parameters necessary for carpet analysis. The analysis accuracy and the usability are excellent, and graphical display of analysis results is easy to understand, which is why we rate it highly. We consult with ESI daily about various matters such as how to reduce calculation time or what kind of modeling is necessary. ESI Japan is also actively and frequently providing information. We recognize that the early practical application of simulation of sound absorption type carpet is largely owed to support from ESI Japan.”

Automotive and aircraft interior designers and manufacturing process engineers no longer need to be experts in FEA

Also new in PAM-COMPOSITES 2017 is a grid tracing tool that lets engineers analyze the length variation on each segment of the grid as they would do on physical prototypes. Also, a new element elimination function enables visualization of physical holes or fiber separations generated during the thermoforming of composite products. ESI says PAM-COMPOSITES 2017 is dedicated to supporting automotive and aircraft interior designers and manufacturing process engineers who, thanks to its process-oriented graphical interface, no longer need to be experts in finite element analysis.